How to Freeze Cucumbers and Pickles

Cucumbers need to be pickled before they can be frozen. (Image: Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images)

A cucumber can’t be frozen without being pickled first as the vegetable will lose its texture and become soft and mushy. You can use a variety of pickling recipes to pickle the cucumbers before freezing them. If you just want basic pickles, that you can use in multiple dishes, use a simple brine to pickle the cucumbers. Frozen cucumbers can be thawed to use as hamburger toppings, chopped into a relish or mixed into recipes.

Things You'll Need

2 lbs. sliced cucumbers

4 cups onions, thinly sliced

2 tbsp. kosher salt

¼ cup & 2 tbsp. water

2 cups sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

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Mix the cucumbers, onions, salt and water in a large bowl.

Split into two large bowls and let the cucumbers sit at room temperature for two hours. Splitting the cucumbers into two bowls helps the brine to soak in to the vegetables.

Add 1 cup sugar and ½ cup cider vinegar to each bowl and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Pack the cucumbers into 1 pint freezer containers and leave 1 inch of space at the top of each container.Cover and freeze.

References

"The Complete Book of Pickling"; Jennifer MacKenzie; 2009

"The Joy of Pickling"; Linda Ziedrich; 1998

“How to Freeze: Everything You Need to Know About Freezing”; Carolyn Humphries; 2003